First India-Delhi Edition-19th October 2022

ARYAN

FINDS LOOPHOLES

‘Where is application of mind?’

SC SLAMS GUJARAT’S REPLY IN BILKIS BANO CASE, CALLS IT ‘VERY BULKY’

New Delhi: The SC on Tuesday said that Guja rat government’s re sponse to petitions chal lenging the remission granted to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case is “very bulky”, where, instead of factual state ments, a series of judgments have been cited.

A bench, head ed by justice Ajay Rastogi, orally ob served that he has not come across a counter affi

Bilkis Dadi

davit where a series of judgments have been quoted. “A very bulky counter. Where is the factual statement, where is the application of mind?” he asked.

Parl to frame law on Uniform Civil Code: Centre tells SC

The Centre on Tuesday told the SC that it could not direct Parliament to frame or enact any law on Uniform Civil Code in the country. The Min istry of Law and Justice in its affidavit stated that the matter of poli cy is for the elected rep resentatives of the peo ple to decide and no di rection in this regard can be issued by the Centre.

“As and when the Re port of Law Commis

CENTRE STATES OVER ARTICLE 44...

It is a directive principle re quiring State to endeavour to secure a Uniform Civil Code for all citizens. It is said to strengthen the “Secular Democratic Republic” object as enshrined in the Constitu tion’s Preamble.

sion in the matter is re ceived, the Govt would examine the same in consultation with the various stakeholders involved in the matter,” said the ministry.

READ Crucial

UNION CABINET HIKES MSP FOR WHEAT, MUSTARD & OTHERS

“LET US DEFEAT TERRORISM WORLDWIDE”

New Delhi: Centre increased MSP for wheat from `2,015/ quintal to `2,125/quintal for next sowing season. MSP for rapeseed, mustard increased to `5,450/quintal from `5,050/quintal. Union Minister for I&B Anurag Thakur said govt has ensured a 100% return on cost of production for wheat and mustard. P7

PHOTOJOURNALIST

STOPPED FROM TRAVELLING TO US New Delhi: Pulitzerwinning Kashmiri photojournalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo said she was stopped from flying to the US by immigration authorities at Delhi airport on Monday, the second time she has been stopped from going abroad in past 4 months.

PRESIDENT ACCEPTS RAJENDRA GUTAM’S RESIGNATION

New Delhi (PTI): President Droupadi Murmu has accepted the resignation of former Social Welfare Minister in Delhi government, Rajendra Pal Gautam, with immediate effect after he put down his papers following a controversy over his presence at a religious conversion event.

PM Narendra Modi addresses 90th In terpol General Assembly attended by delegations from 195 member coun tries after a gap of about 25 years

New Delhi: Pakistan’s top homeland security agency chief on Tues day was seen avoiding questions about under world don Dawood Ibra him and 26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed, both of whom are among ter rorists most wanted by Indian security agen cies and believed to be living in Pakistan.

Earlier in the day, PM Modi addressed the 90th Interpol general assem bly in Delhi, attended by delegations from 195

member countries com prising ministers, police chiefs, heads of national central bureaus & cops.

“Time to look ahead and also look at the past. Our Vedas say let noble thoughts come from all directions and India be lieves in global coopera tion,” Modi said at the inauguration of the In terpol general assembly.

“There is a need to develop international strategies to defeat ter rorism worldwide,” he added. Modi said Inter pol can help control pro ceeds of crimes and cor ruption. With ANI Inputs

Interpol is approaching a historic milestone. In 2023, it will celebrate its 100 years. This is a call for universal cooperation to make the world a better place. India is one of the top contributors towards UN Peacekeeping Operations.

—Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

On media body’s plea, SC issues notice on ‘search and seizure’ of digital devices

First India Bureau

New Delhi: The Su preme Court on Tues day issued notice to the union government and the ministries of law and finance on a plea by journalist collective Media Track, seeking guidelines on “search and seizure” of digital devices by government agencies.

Agencies “seek un trammelled access to

BINNY IS BCCI PREZ; WON’T GO TO PAKISTAN FOR ASIA CUP: JAY

KHALID’S BAIL PLEA IN RIOTS CASE DISMISSED

Delhi HC denied bail to stu dent activist Umar Khalid. It observed that protests against CAA & 2020 NE Delhi riots were prima-facie orchestrated at various conspiratorial meets which were attended by Khalid, adding that the allegations against him are prima facie true and embargo under UAPA is attracted. P2

SC REFUSES TO SHIFT CONMAN TO NEW JAIL

The SC on Tuesday refused to entertain a fresh plea by alleged ‘conman’ Sukesh Chandrashekhar seeking transfer from Mandoli jail in the city to any other jail which is not under control of DG of Prisons, Delhi. “We find no reason to entertain the petition. We don’t appreciate this kind of behaviour,” bench said.

JAYALALITHAA DEATH

PANEL HOLDS AIDE SASIKALA GUILTY, RECOMMENDS PROBE

DAWOOD

ASKS

The Justice A Arumughaswamy Commission of in quiry, which probed the circumstances leading to the death of former Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa in 2016, in its concluding remarks said her aide VK Sasikala “have to be found fault with and investigation is to be or dered”. On Tuesday, TN govt tabled in the assembly the reports of separate commissions of inquiry that looked into the circumstances surrounding the death of Jay alalithaa and the 2018 police firing at Thoothukudi in the state. The panel has also named former health minister C Vijayabaskar, the then health secy J Radhakrishnan and KS Sivakumar, a doctor and relative of Sasikala, the then Chief Secretary Rama Mohana Rao and others.

NIA arrests Delhi advocate, Sonepat ‘mafia’

6 pilgrims, pilot killed in chopper crash near Kedarnath Temple

The helicopter was ferrying pilgrims to the Guptkashi, CM Dhami orders probe

Kedarnath: Seven peo ple who were aboard a chopper that crashed in Uttarakhand near the iconic Kedarnath Dham have died, officials have confirmed. The tragedy occurred when the chopper crashed at Garud Chatti, nearly 2 km from the Kedarnath Dham shrine. Chief Minister Pushkar Dha mi has ordered a probe.

The helicopter - car rying pilgrims - was fly ing from Kedarnath to the Phata helipad.

Utta rakhand SDRF Com

Anguished by the helicopter crash in Uttarakhand. In this tragic hour, my thoughts are with the bereaved families.

—Prime Minister’s Office

mandant Manikant Mishra confirmed the deaths in the chopper crash, which was re ported to have taken place minutes after the takeoff. The bad weath er is believed to have caused the tragedy.

The news of the death of devotees due to the helicopter crash in Kedarnath is very sad. In this hour of grief, my condolences are with the families of the accident victims. May Baba Kedar give strength to the bereaved family and place the departed souls at your feet.

—Anurag Thakur, Union Minister

Killings of non-locals continue in Kashmir, now 2 workers from UP

digital devices of indi viduals” which is con trary to the fundamen tal right to privacy.

“Digital devices contain sensitive personal data... They are effec tively an extension of

the self,” the plea said. It has become a “norm for investigations” to compel arrested per sons “to divulge pass codes of a digital de vice,” it said. Individu als are “rendered help less and without any protection against in trusion by the state into the deepest recesses of their personal life”. The consequences are even more serious for jour nalists, the plea added.

New Delhi (ANI): The National Investigation Agency on Tuesday ar rested an advocate, Asif Khan, here and a Hary ana gangster, Rajesh alias Raju Mota, follow ing raids at 52 locations across north India. NIA said four weapons and a few pistols were found in Khan’s home and that he was in touch with gangsters. Mota, the NIA said, was run ning an illegal liquor mafia network. P5

Srinagar (PTI): Two labourers from Uttar Pradesh were killed when terrorists lobbed a grenade at them on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday in Shopian district of south Kashmir, officials said.

The incident took place at around 12.30am when the victims, iden tified as Monish Kumar and Ram Sagar, natives of Kannauj district, were sleeping in a tin

shed constructed as an outhouse. Officials said the duo was working in apple orchards as la bourers.

The attack came two days after terrorists shot dead Kashmiri

pandit Puran Krishan Bhat outside his house at Gund village in the same district.

The labourers, who had come to the Kash mir valley two months ago, were rushed to a hospital where they succumbed to their in juries. ADGP (Kash mir) Vijay Kumar said a hybrid terrorist of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, who lobbed the grenade, has been arrested, along with another person.

Pak FIA DG Mohsin Butt for the Interpol General Assembly, dodged a question on whereabouts of Dawood Ibrahim, LeT & JeM chief asked by news agency ANI

even as he inau gurates the DefExpo 22 at Gandhinagar in Gujarat. 75 challenges, providing a holistic overview of stages of space missions have been curated.

Moni Sharma

SDRF and police personnel during a search and rescue operation at the helicopter crash site, at Phata, in Kedarnath on Tuesday.

HP

Mumbai: Roger Binny took over officially as board president during the BCCI AGM on Tuesday. Jay Shah will continue to be BCCI secretary as he was elected unopposed for the role, he said Indian cricket team won’t be travelling to Pakistan for 2023 Asia Cup.

UAPA charges ‘prima facie true

: High Court

First India Bureau

New Delhi: Refusing to grant bail to Umar Khalid, the Delhi High Court said he was in constant touch with other co-accused and their acts prima facie qualify as "terrorist act" under UAPA. A bench headed by Justice Sid dharth Mridul said the anti-CAA protests "met amorphosed into vio lent riots", which "pri ma facie seemed to be orchestrated at the con spiratorial meetings", and the statements of the witnesses indicate Khalid's "active involve ment" in the protests.

"The appellant (Khalid) was in con stant touch with other co-accused persons, in cluding Sharjeel Imam, who arguably is at the head of the conspiracy; at this stage (of bail), it is difficult to form an opinion that there are not reasonable grounds for believing that the ac cusation against the pe titioner is prima facie not proved," observed the bench, also compris ing Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar.

"On in-depth and con sidered perusal of the chargesheet, this court expresses the inescapa ble conclusion that al legations against the appellant are 'prima fa cie true' and hence, the embargo (on bail) cre ated by Section 43D(5)

of UAPA applies square ly. Thus, the appellant's application seeking regular bail is rejected," the court ruled.

In its 52-page order, the court observed the ‘planned protests’were not the kind that are "normal in political cul ture or democracy (but were) far more destruc tive and injurious geared towards ex tremely grave conse quences" and the acts of accused prima facie qualified as "terrorist

act" under UAPA.

It asserted that acts which threaten the country's unity, cause communal friction and create terror in any sec tion of the people by disturbing the socialfabric is a "terrorist act" and the issue of grant ing bail in the present case has to be consid ered in the "larger con text of the societal con cerns involved in re leasing an accused in juxtaposition with indi vidual liberty".

Chief of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Mohsin Hasan Butt (right) at the 90th General Assembly of INTERPOL.

Be careful with words, court tells Tejashwi

New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court on Tuesday refused to cancel the bail granted to Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on a plea by the CBI in the IRCTC scam, saying it did not find any specific ground to order cancel lation of the relief.

Special Judge Geetan jali Goel, while declining the CBI’s petition, asked the young RJD leader to be careful with words and use them appropri ately. In its petition, the CBI had claimed Yadav, at a recent press confer ence, attempted to sub vert the process of law

and thwart the entire investigation as well as the consequent trial, and “blatantly abused the lib erty granted to him.”

It alleged Yadav issued “direct threat” to CBI of

DU defers first seat allocation in UG by a day

New Delhi (PTI): Delhi University has deferred announcement of the first list of seat alloca tion in its colleges by a day to Wednesday.

The first round of CSAS (Common Seat Al location System) list would be released on Wednesday, it said in a notification.

"It is hereby notified that the declaration of first round of CSAS al location list shall be re leased tomorrow i.e. Wednesday, the 19th Oc tober, 2022," the varsity said. The development

comes ahead of Wednes day's Supreme Court hearing on a plea by St Stephen's College, one of the varsity's constitu ent colleges, against a Delhi High Court order on admissions.

The high court had directed the college to follow the varsity's ad mission policy.

Foreign student admissions decline to 520

New Delhi (PTI): Delhi University has admit ted 520 foreign students across undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD courses this academic season, a decline of over 27.5 per cent from the previous year.

The maximum num ber of students this year is from Nepal (110), followed by Tibet (100) and Bangladesh (85). A university official at tributed the decline in the number of admis sions by foreign stu

dents to the delay in the start of the academic session. In 2022 year, 520 foreign students have been admitted to the university compared to

ficers and their families and “indirect threat” to witnesses.

The central probe agency accused Yadav of having attempted to “portray the CBI in bad

2 children feared drowned in Yamuna

New Delhi (PTI): Two children were feared drowned after they went for swimming in the Ya muna river in north Delhi's Wazirabad area.

You are on very responsi ble post. It is not right to use such words. Use appropri ate words in public because your words impact a huge num ber of the public.

—Geetanjali Goel, Special judge

light and under the in fluence of political par ties” by using innuen does such as “Jamai” (son-in-law) of a politi cal party.

“You are on very re

sponsible post. It is not right to use such words. Use appropriate words in public because your words impact a huge number of the public. You have to understand the implications of your words. This should not happen again. You must choose words carefully and not use such words which have the potential to influence witnesses,” the judge said.

The judge passed the order after hearing the arguments during which Yadav claimed he did not violate any con dition set in the bail granted to him earlier.

Car dealer’s stance towards challenged girl irks DCW

663 students in 2021.

The number of appli cations from foreign nationals has also dipped this year by over 28 per cent.

Wazirabad police sta tion received informa tion about the incident that happened in Sonia Vihar's Pusta Number 2 on Monday. The chil dren were identified as Rahul (12) and Kartik (13), a senior police of ficer said. Himanshu (11) who also went along with the two boys, was rescued by an eyewit ness, the officer said.

New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has is sued a notice to the Transport Department over alleged refusal by a car dealer to sell a large commercial vehicle which can be modified to fit in a wheelchair to a specially abled girl.

The panel said it has received a representa tion from the differently abled girl regarding pur chasing a modified vehi cle. She has submitted that she is suffering from intellectual disability,

cerebral palsy and has restricted mobility. She has stated that she wants to purchase a wheelchair accessible vehicle in which she will install a manual/hydraulic ramp to improve accessibility.

Cured but ostracised: Leprosy survivors’ ordeal far from over

lll

Not just for survivors but even for their non-leprosy affected children, getting employment is difficult with the camp as their address

New Delhi: They have been cured of leprosy years ago, but Malesh still cannot eat at restau rants or travel in public transport without invit ing uncomfortable glares to his bandaged hands, while Saheli is forced to beg after being denied jobs for her ap pearance.

Malesh and Saheli’s situation is shared by several others at the

West Patel Nagar Lok Mata Kusht transit camp where around 43 families of leprosy sur vivors reside.

Everything is sepa rate for the camp’s resi dents whether it be tem ples, grocery shops, milk booths or drinking water taps, said a lepro sy survivor, who be lieves that society makes even the cured feel as “untouchables”.

“People give me dirty looks. Till date, we do not get served in restau

People give me dirty looks.

Till date, we do not get served in restaurants and have to take our own vessels if we want to eat food. When we travel in buses or autos, no one wants to sit next to us

—Malesh Leprosy survivor

sit next to us,” said Malesh, 55, who was cured of the disease 18

years ago but suffers from physical deformi ties to his hands and legs. For Saheli begging was the only option left after she was denied em ployment on several oc casions as people turned her away because of her appearance and physi cal deformities.

“I did not even have the option to work. As soon as people saw de formities of my body, they turned me away. I am now forced to beg but that is the only way I am

able to manage two meals a day,” the 42-yearold said.

Not just for survivors but even for their nonleprosy affected chil dren, getting employ ment is difficult with the camp as their address.

“When people see the leprosy camp as our ad dress, they make excuses to not give us employ ment. Many of us, in cluding myself, have to give a fake address,” the camp’s caretaker Jaya Reddy said. —PTI

Court says Khalid’s actions qualify as ‘terrorist act’, Sharjeel Imam at ‘head of conspiracy’

THE CASE

INDIA HOSTS INTERPOL

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, INTERPOL President Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi and INTERPOL Secretary General Jurgen Stock and CBI Chief Subodh Kumar Jaiswal during the 90th General Assembly of INTERPOL at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi on Tuesday. —PHOTOS BY PTI Delegates from Saudi Arabia attend the 90th General Assembly of INTERPOL.

Uzmi Athar and Gunjan Sharma

rants and have to take our own vessels if we want to eat food. When

we travel in public transport like buses or autos, no one wants to

INESCAPABLE STIGMA

Tejashwi Yadav at the party office after appearing at a CBI court in connection with the IRCTC scam case on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY PTI

DCW chief Swati Maliwal

Nepalese students at DU at a varsity function.

—FILE PHOTO

Lok Mata Kusht transit camp for leprosy survivors in New Delhi.

(R) A leprosy survivor staying at the camp. —PHOTO BY PTI

Show-cause notice to DDC’s Shah

Action follows plaint by BJP MP Parvesh Verma alleging the vice-chairman misused public office

New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi government's planning department is sued a show-case notice to Dialogue and Develop ment Commission vicechairperson Jasmine Shah over charges of "misusing public office" by acting as the "official spokesperson" of the AAP, sources said.

The action came fol lowing a complaint by West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma. The notice gave seven days to Shah to respond.

Shah is behind the Delhi government's am bitious electric vehicle policy and is the vicechairman of the think tank involved in draw ing blueprints of vari ous initiatives of Delhi government.

In his plaint, dated

September 13, BJP MP Verma alleged that "while working as vicechairperson, Dialogue and Development Com mission of Delhi (DDCD), Jasmine Shah has acted as official spokesperson of AAP for political gains, which is in violation of estab lished procedures, and a few alleged instances of misuse of public office by Shah has been pro

Biz grad arrested from luxury apartment for duping ppl of Rs 8-cr

First India Bureau

New Delhi: Bal akrishnan Shivram Iyer, a graduate in business administration from a prestigious Bangalorecollege, was nabbed from a luxury apart ment in Gurugram on Tuesday by Delhi Po lice’s Economic Offenc es Wing. He allegedly cheated people of Rs 8 crore on the pretext of making them associates in a cargo business.

Police said the matter came to light after a complaint was filed by one MR Prakash and others alleging that Iyer told them that he was an executive director in Bhagwati Airways Ex press Ltd. He signed franchise agreements with them to make them business associates in territories of Mumbai, Chennai and Coim batore, the police said.

“Iyer collected Rs 8 crore from them for

making them associ ates, though he was not authorised to sign agreement on behalf of the company. He was only an employee of the alleged company,” police said.

Complaint also says Jasmine Shah has acted as an official spokeman of AAP for political gains

vided".

The department after "thoroughly analysing various video footage of Shah's presence in TV programmes, transcript of press meets by him and reports in newspa pers, news portals etc", prima facie found he was using his government of fice and other perks to "further an extremely partisan political agen da,” sources said.

New Delhi (PTI): BJP leader Kapil Mishra on Tuesday challenged Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Siso dia to appear for a lie detector test over his al legations that the CBI tried to pressure him into quitting the AAP and join the BJP.

Mishra, a former minister in the Arvind Kejriwal government, said the allegations by Sisodia, an accused in the Delhi Excise policy case, should be seen as

3

Planning dept finds allegations against Shah, the man behind Delhi’s e-vehicle policy, ‘prima facie’ true

KEJRIWAL GOVT CHANGED ‘HONORARY’ POST STATUS

New Delhi: The law department gave its opin ion in this matter stating that Shah was a 'pub lic servant' and not working on an 'honorary post'. "It may be noted that the position of Vice Chairman, DDCD, used to be an 'honorary post' till 2015, where after the Kejriwal govern ment through a cabinet decision restructured the DDC and categorically decided that it shall be entitled to pay, allowances and other facili ties that include a house and office, amongst others, on par with ministers of GNCTD," sources said quoting the law department. The law department also concluded that Jasmine Shah is under the service of the government and is entrusted with the performance of pub lic duty and he is covered under the definition of a public servant under clause 12(A) of Sec tion 21 of the IPC and Section 2(C)(i) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, they said. It has further said that in acting as spokesper son and promoting a particular political party, Shah had clearly "breached" the terms of ref erence of DDC.

AAP BLAMES LG

Reacting to the devel opment, Shah said, "I have seen the notice issued by the planning department of Delhi government, on behest of the LG and BJP MP Pravesh Verma... DDCD's terms of refer ence make it clear only the chief minister has the powers to remove the vice-chairperson. In issuing this notice, the LG has exceeded his jurisdiction." The AAP alleged, "The LG has no answers to rising crime and garbage mountains in Delhi, but issues a letter every day target ing the work of the Delhi government."

Delhi to get 100 EV charging stations in 2 months: Kejriwal

New Delhi (PTI):

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said the national capital would get 100 electric vehicle charging sta tions in the next two months.

Kejriwal on Tuesday inaugurated 11 charg ing stations and said the facilities would also include battery swap ping points.

"Earlier, battery swapping points and charging stations were different but these have now been clubbed to gether. These 11 stations have 73 charging points. In the next two months, Delhi will get 100 charg ing stations," he said.

The CM said majori ty of these charging sta tions were being set up at Metro stations.

Undergo lie detector test, Kapil Mishra challenges Sisodia

me to quit AAP. I was of fered Delhi CM's post or face jail term," Sisodia said.

Ask PM Modi to take lie detector test: AAP

a "shameless" attempt to "influence" the probe.

Sisodia, who was questioned for over nine hours on Monday at the CBI headquar ters in connection with

Kingpin of Mewati gang arrested for cyber fraud

New Delhi (ANI): The kingpin of the Mewati gang, a wanted criminal in several cases includ ing cybercrime and cheating was appre hended in Dwarka, said police on Tuesday.

The accused had a reward of Rs. 25000 on him. The accused has been identified as Zala luddin. "The accused is

wanted in Delhi, Ku rukshetra, Ambala and other states. He along with his gang members cheated innocent people. Secret inform ers were also deployed to get clues about him and several raids were conducted in Mewat re gion to nab Zalalud din," said DCP M Har sha Vardhan.

the alleged Delhi Excise policy scam, had claimed that he was offered the chief minister's post if he quit the AAP.

"Pressure was put on

Speaking to report ers, Mishra hit back at the AAP leader and said, "I challenge Siso dia to face a narco or a lie detector test to find out the truth or (he should) take back his statement against the CBI and tender an apol ogy by the evening," Mishra told reporters.

The CBI has also refut ed Sisodia's allegations.

New Delhi (PTI): BJP should ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to undergo a lie detector test and say the CBI and ED are neutral agencies and have nothing to do with his party, AAP said on Tuesday. The reaction came after BJP leader Kapil Mishra dared Manish Sisodia to subject himself to a lie detector test over his claim that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) tried to put pressure on him to quit his party and join the saffron outfit. The BJP leader also said Sisodia's allegation was a "shame less" attempt to "influence" the agency's probe into the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

Two of 3 kids abducted from Rajasthan found murdered in Delhi, accused held

Jaipur/New Delhi (PTI): Two of three mi nor brothers abducted from Rajasthan's Alwar district on October 15 were found murdered in Delhi on Tuesday, po lice said.

The third brother is safe and currently at a children's home in south Delhi's Lajpat Na gar. Sons of a vegetable

vendor, Aman (13), Vi pin (8) and Shiva (7) were abducted from Bhiwadi in Alwar on the evening of Octo ber 15.

The accused, who lived next to the family home, brought the chil dren to Delhi.

Since the brothers knew the accused Ma haveer Teli and Manjah

Kushwaha -- they went with them willingly. Later at night, they were gripped by fear and started crying. The accused, in a state of panic, hit and strangu lated them and dumped the bodies near the Ya muna river, Bhiwadi SP Shantanu Kumar said.

However, Shiva sur vived and regained con

sciousness on Sunday morning. Locals spot ted him crying and took him to a police station. Later on Sunday, the accused called Gyan Singh, the boys' father, to demand Rs 8 lakh in ransom. Police traced the mobile number and identified the accused. They were nabbed on Monday night.

A Delhi village without dignity for the living or the dead

Gaurav Saini

New Delhi: The rain gushed through holes in the rotting tin roof covering the pyre, the wind blowing away the tarpaulin villagers tried to put. Havildar Shiv Kumar was finally cremated with diesel, the gathering darkness metaphor for the an guish of his family and the despair of a village at the edge of India's capital.

On the border be tween Delhi and Gur gaon, Daurala is the nowhere village with out piped water, proper drainage or even sewer connections, slipping through the cracks from the high octane development of its en virons. That Kumar was denied dignity in death that traumatic September evening un derscored for its people

the hopelessness of their situation.

"It was my son's 40 birthday when he came home in a flag-draped coffin. What aggravat ed my pain was that his mortal remains were consigned to flames us ing diesel from a trac tor," said Kumar's mother Ramvati.

Kumar was posted with 24 Grenadiers in Jaipur when he got den gue. He was shifted to the army hospital here on September 22 and the body was brought to the village on Septem ber 23 amid heavy rain. What happened after that is a case study of all that is wrong, the villagers told PTI.

Almost every house sends men to the armed forces and it was the first time in decades that a soldier from the village died on duty.

"We have a popula

tion of 800 people, of which only 300 are eligi ble to vote. We don't matter to them. There's nothing called basic in frastructure here," re tired hawildar Diwan Singh said, his eyes fixed on the glittering high-rises of Gurgaon visible from every cor ner of the village.

He recounts in detail the night of Kumar's funeral.

"It was already get ting dark and the rain

wasn't stopping. The damaged tin shed could not prevent the pyre from getting wet. We tried to cover the roof with a tarpaulin sheet but it gave way to gusty winds. With no option left, we took out 10 litres of diesel from a tractor and used it to light the pyre," Singh said.

Sanjay Singh, a 47-year-old retired hav ildar and Kumar's brother, said adminis trative apathy had

forced them to use die sel to light the pyre. The ghee and the damp wood was not just enough to set it aflame.

"The administration could not arrange five sheets of tin to cover the cremation platform all these years. We have now decided to do it on our own," Sanjay Singh said.

The army hearse could not enter the vil lage as its narrow roads have been dam

aged beyond repair over the years. The vil lage is at a lower level then the main road and there is no sewer net work so wastewater spills on to its streets.

As a result, army personnel carrying Ku mar's body waded through knee-deep wastewater to reach the cremation ground. It didn't stop there, the villagers told PTI.

Left to fend for them selves, they arranged

two JCBs to prepare a mud platform so that Kumar's family mem bers could walk around the pyre.

"No one from the government or the ad ministration was pre sent at the time of the last rites. Had they been there, they would have realised their fail ure. They could not en sure proper facilities to even cremate our dead...," Sanjay Singh said. —PTI

POLITICAL NEGLECT

Residents say suc cessive governments have neglected their village as its small population is not considered important for elections. The village falls in Matiala constituency formed in 2008. Since then, it has seen three MLAs -- Sumesh Shokeen from Congress in 2008, Rajesh Gehlot from BJP in 2013 and Gu lab Yadav from AAP in 2015 and 2020.

The panchayat sys tem in Delhi ended in 1990 and therefore there is no local lead ership in the village.

Rao Satbir Singh, a social activist said of the 357 villages in Delhi, Daurala sends maximum men to the armed forces.

Daurala village at the edge of Delhi doesn't have proper roads, piped water supply, sewage network, community centre or even basic facilities for cremation of dead.

DDCD vice-chairman Jasmine Shah. —FILE PHOTO

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at the inauguration of 11 Electric Vehicle charging stations, at Indraprastha Metro Station, in New Delhi on Tuesday.

—PHOTO BY ANI

—PHOTOS

BY PTI

Image tweeted by @EOWDelhi. EVADING ARREST

DON’T POLITICISE GANGULY’S EXIT,

LET’S NOT PLAY GAMES OVER CRICKET

Team India took on Bang ladesh and headed for a massive win in the Day/ Night Test which was held at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in Nov 2019.

l IPL amid Covid scare

For the last one week, there was a lot of political heart burn over the fact that Sourav Ganguly would not remain the BCCI presi dent post Oct 18, 2022.

Criticising the party at the Centre, Trinamool Congress raised the issues and said that keeping an eye towards the 2021 cru cial Assembly election, Ganguly was made the BCCI chief in 2019. The party, however, alleged that after the Prince of Calcutta “refused” to join politics or to be precise… refused to join “them”, he was removed.

Ganguly, on the other hand, recently at a Band han Bank event in Kolkata said, “I have been an ad ministrator and I will move on to something else.

“Whatever you do in life, the best days are when you played for India. I have been president of the BCCI and I will go on to do big ger things. You can’t be a player forever, you can’t be an administrator forever. It’s been great doing both.

“I never believed in his tory but the feeling in the past was East lacked talent to play at that level. You don’t become an Ambani or Narendra Modi in one day. You have to work for months and years to get there,” he further said. Ganguly also opened up on his experience leading the Indian team as captain.

Let’s remember the glorious past of such icons forever and not attach it or let’s not get entangled in such episodes and let Cricket remain Cricket. Let’s keep our passion for the game intact and hail the icons in the way they should be and let’s bleed blue for the game that is religion to us all… a game that actually unites India.

“It was six captains leading the team. I stood up for Rahul when he was almost dropped from the one-day side. I took their suggestions in picking the team. These things don’t go unnoticed in a team en vironment,” he said. “It’s not just the runs I scored. People remember other things. It’s what you do as a leader for them,” said the outgoing BCCI chief.

Roger Binny has re placed Sourav Ganguly, while Ganguly is out as the BCCI president, Jay

Roger Binny has replaced Sourav Gan guly, while Ganguly is out as the BCCI president, Jay Shah continues to remain the board’s secretary. A few other changes in the BCCI has also been made as the top brass undergoes a major reshuffle.

Shah will continue to re main the board’s secre tary. A few other changes in the BCCI were also made as the top brass un dergoes a reshuffle.

It is actually very sad to see how politicians react and in fact reduce the stat ure of global icons. Sourav Ganguly has been one of the finest and gifted bats men India has ever pro duced and he’s captain par excellence. Time and again, he had demonstrat ed his cricketing acumen and lifted the team to dizzy heights and under him we even reached the 2003 World Cup final.

His contribution in team building has been ex emplary and Sourav Gan

Kapil, who was sacked as the chairman of the National Cricket Academy after he took up his position as the chairman of the ICL board, insisted that he, along with fellow former players who had defected to the rebel league, were keen to work with the BCCI, but couldn’t do so because of governing body. Mohin der Amarnath, the former India batting Stalwart, had called the selectors in 1989 a bunch of jokers. Mohinder who is also known as Jimmy Amarnath, had the most number of comebacks in his 19-year-old international career.

guly, given his status, is easily one of India’s brightest icons. However, we must resist and desist ourselves from diminish ing such a person’s stature and limit him to being a Bengali icon. His jabar dast fan following across generations and across the nation is mind boggling.

When he was made the captain despite the pres ence of greats, these politi cians who are today decry ing his departure from BCCI never hailed the de cision and said that Ben galis were promoted. Gan guly was chosen because of his prowess and acu men and the rest is history.

We must remember that a BCCI president has never

been repeated since Inde pendence. Since there is no basis for the fact that some thing went wrong in the corridors of power, there’s no need to sour things un necessarily and demean the stature of such icons.

When Ganguly was made the board president, these politicians who are beating their chests today after he is stepping down, never hailed the decision then saying that a Bengali was given his due. Why didn’t they then taint the episode as a political one or why didn’t they cheer the fact that a Bengali was made the Board president? That time they remained silent.

Let’s not spoil the glory and stint that the gifted

Gujarat lesson: Every sinner has a future

The Gujarat gov ernment’s affi davit in the Bilkis Bano case has shift ed the focus on the prema ture release of 11 convicts from the state to the Cen tre. The affidavit filed by the Gujarat government in the Supreme Court on Monday stated that the re mission in sentence was allowed keeping in mind the good behaviour of the convicts and not in ac cordance with Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebra tions. The significant part of the affidavit was that the remission had the ap proval of the Union Home Ministry.

When the world was una ble to grasp the evolving and fast-changing scenar ios after Covid-19 broke out in 2020, the BCCI man aged to organise the de layed IPL for that year in Dubai, where the infection rates were far less.

l Domestic cricketers’ pay hike

After assuming the charge of the BCCI, Ganguly had clearly stated that his fo cus would be on first-class cricket. In a significant decision, Ganguly intro duced pay hikes for the cricketers who play in the domestic circuit.

l Appointing Rahul Dravid as coach Ganguly was instrumental in convincing his former colleague Rahul Dravid to become the men’s team’s head coach after his prede cessor Ravi Shastri stepped down. Also, VVS Laxman was given the charge of the National Cricket Academy after Dravid quit to become the Team India head coach. Ganguly had played an ac tive role in appointing Lax man to the NCA post as well.

WOMEN’S IPL

Bilkis Bano was gan graped in Gujarat’s Ran dhikpur village during the 2002 Gujarat riots. Seven members of her

family and her three-year old daughter were killed by the accused in front of her. She was pregnant at the time and was only 21

years of age.

The Supreme Court crit icized the Gujarat govern ment for filing a reply which lacked “application

The Gujarat govt’s affidavit in the Bilkis Bano case has shifted focus on premature release of 11 convicts from state to Centre. The affidavit filed by Gujarat govt in the Supreme Court on Monday stated that the remission in sentence was allowed keeping in mind good behaviour of convicts and not in accordance with Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations

of mind” and lacking fac tual statements. The re mission must give hope to others committing hei nous crimes like this.

southpaw had. He was an administrator for eight long years, including his stint in the CAB and later with the BCCI. Politicians do play their games but the common man must be aware of the facts and the fiction. Equating any moves with political intonations can easily undermine the stature of such greats.

SOURAV DADA’S ACHIEVEMENT AS A BCCI CHIEF Day/Night Test

l Ganguly’s BCCI was instrumental in hosting the first Day/Night Test (also called Pink Ball Test) in the country. Then skipper Virat Kohli’s

Barely a few weeks ago, the outgoing BCCI president had announced the com mencement of the wom en’s IPL, which is likely to begin next year. In a letter to the state associations, Ganguly wrote as quoted by various media, “The BCCI is currently working on the much-awaited Wom en’s IPL. We are expecting to start the first season early next year.”

Let’s remember the glo rious past of such icons forever and not attach it or let’s not get entangled in such episodes and let Cricket remain Cricket. Let’s keep our passion for the game intact and hail the icons in the way they should be and let’s bleed blue for the game that is religion to us all… a game that actually unites India.

Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. Bible

SPIRITUAL SPEAK

Jagat Prakash Nadda @JPNadda Today, giving another gift to our farmer brothers under the leadership of respected Prime Minister Shri @ narendramodi ji, the cabinet approved the increase in MSP of 6 Rabi crops for the marketing season 2023-24. Modi government determined to double the income of the donors. Thank you Prime Minister.

Amit Shah @AmitShah Modi ji is taking important steps one after the other to double the income of farmers and empower them. The increase in the MSP of 6 Rabi crops for the 2022-23 season by the cabinet shows Modi ji’s commitment towards farmer welfare. Thanks to Modi ji for this decision which gives relief to the farmers.

TOP TWEETS

Dr Jagdeesh Chandra Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

ROBIN ROY

The writer is Senior Journalist and former Managing Editor, First India

BINNY REPLACES SOURAV AND JAY SHAH CONTINUES TO REMAIN SECY

KAPIL DEV WHO LIFTED THE FIRST-EVER WORLD CUP FOR INDIA IN 1983 HAD ROUGH WEATHER TOO WITH BOARD

I never believed in history but the feeling in the past was East lacked talent to play at that level. You don’t become an Ambani or Narendra Modi in one day. You have to work for months and years to get there.

—Sourav Ganguly, Former BCCI President

IN THE COURTYARD

STAY ON REMOVAL OF BHATTACHARYA AS WBBPE PREZ

Kolkata: The Supreme Court has put an interim stay on an order of the Calcutta High Court on removal of TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya as West Bengal Board of Primary Education president. But the court did not pass any order on the reappointment of Bhattacharya for that chair considering that the state govt has already replaced him after the Calcutta High Court order.

GoI SHUTS DOWN MDMA INTO RAJIV ASSASSINATION

‘

Will restore glory of Dholavira & Lothal’

New Delhi (ANI):

Prime Minister Naren dra Modi virtually re viewed the progress of the National Maritime Heritage Complex at Lothal in Gujarat on Tuesday and said that the government will bring back the glory of Dholavira and Lothal.

In his address via video conferencing, PM Modi said, “We’ll bring back the glory of Dhola vira and Lothal. We’re seeing rapid progress in this mission. Lothal was not only a major trading centre of the In dus Valley Civilisation, but it was also a symbol of India’s maritime power and prosperity. The way in which Lo thal was developed as a port city thousands of years ago still amazes

experts.” “An industry for the construction of ships used to be present thousands of years ago in Kutch. Big ships made in India were sold all over the world, and this indifference to wards heritage did a great loss to the country. This situation needs to change,” he added.

He cited the archaeo logical evidence and stated that India was a maritime power even thousands of years ago. He stressed that India was also a major part of major sea trade routes.

“We have archaeo logical evidence prov ing that even thousands of years ago, India was a maritime power and part of major sea trade routes... The heritage complex being built in

New Delhi: The govt has wound up the 24-yearold Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) constituted to probe the wider conspiracy into the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, officials have said. MDMA was working under the CBI and comprised officers from multiple central security agencies.

UP GOVT PLANNING CORRIDOR AT BANKE BIHARI

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday informed the Allahabad High Court that it is planning to construct a corridor after acquiring five acres of land adjacent to Banke Bihari Temple in Mathura. Two devotees were killed in a stampede-like situation during Janmashtami celebrations in August, sparking safety concerns.

WOMAN, PARTNER SENTENCED FOR KILLING HUSBAND

Kota: Three years after a man was killed by his wife’s lover, a court has sentenced woman and her partner to different jail terms. The court has given life term to Sanif Mohd, of Bhilwara, for murdering Abdul Vahid in 2019. Vahid’s wife Najma was awarded a jail term for her role in the conspiricy of murder.

HIMACHAL

BJP meet to finalise Himachal candidates

New Delhi (PTI): The newly reconstituted Central Election Com mittee of the BJP met for the first time on Tuesday evening to finalise the party’s candidates for the Himachal Pradesh assembly polls sched uled for November 12.

PM Narendra Modi, Union ministers Ra jnath Singh and Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda attended the meeting, among others.

The party had recent ly brought in several new faces in the CEC

Nadda welcomes PM Modi.

while dropping a few.

The CEC has new en trants such as BS Yedi urappa, Union minis ters Bhupender Yadav and Sarbananda Sonow al, Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, Om Mathur etc.

Public consultation on Nat’l Credit framework today

Lothal will be a great source of information for the common man about India’s rich mari time history spanning

earth. I am sure it will become a huge centre of attraction for tourists from all over the world.

This complex is being developed to welcome thousands of tourists a day,” PM added.

He recalled the inci dents of history and said India had relations with all the civilisations of the world and the country’s maritime power had a big role to play in this.

PM TO INAUGURATE 3-DAY HOUSING EVENT TODAY IN GUJ PM’S PRE-DIWALI TEMPLE RUN AHEAD OF ELECTIONS

New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate

New Delhi: Union Min ister Dharmendra Pradhan chaired a highlevel meeting with the committee preparing National Credit Frame work for School Educa tion, Higher Education and Skilling here on Tuesday. Secretary, School Education Anita Karwal; Secretary,

Higher Education San jay Murthy; Chairman, NCVET; Dr Nirmaljeet Singh Kalsi and senior officials of the Educa tion and Skill Develop ment Ministry attended the meeting.

Pradhan gave his consent to start the pro cess of public consulta tion on the National Credit Framework from Wednesday.

Inquiry panel says police firing on Sterlite protesters unprovoked

Chennai (PTI): A Com mission of Inquiry (CoI) that probed the 2018 po lice firing on anti-Ster lite protesters at Thoothukudi in south ern Tamil Nadu said in its report tabled on Tues day in the Assembly that it was unprovoked and recommended action against officials.

The police officials jointly and severally held accountable are IG Shailesh Kumar Yadav, DIG Kapil Kumar C Karatkar, the then dis trict superintendent P

Mahendran, and 17 oth er officials. The report suggested action against three special executive magistrates/deputy tah sildars as well. The po lice firing in May 2018 led to 13 deaths.

The commission con cluded that there has certainly been excesses on the part of police of ficials. The police firing was “unprovoked,” and it could have been avoid ed, the panel said.

centuries,” he said.

“The same splendour, the same power of thou sands of years ago is be ing rekindled on this

Congress releases first list of 46 candidates

Shimla: After much de bate and discussion, Congress has finally re leased the first list of 46 candidates for the com ing assembly elections. In the first list all the prominent leaders have been accommodated.

In Chamba dist, Yashwant Singh Khanna has been fielded from Churah (SC); Neeraj Nay yar from Chamba; Asha Kumari from Dalhousie and Kuldeep Singh Pathania from Bhattiyat.

In Kangra dist, Ajay Mahajan from Nurpur,

Bhawani Singh Pathania from Fatehpur; Chander Kumar from Jawali; Surinder Singh Manko tia from Jaswan-Pragpur, Sanjay Rattan from Jawalamukhi; Raghubir Singh Bali from Nagrota Bagwan; Kewal Singh Pathania from Shahpur, AICC Secretary Sudhir Sharma from Dharam shala; Ashish Butail from Palampur and Kishori Lal from Baijnath (SC).

In Lahaul-Spiti assembly seat, party has once again relied on former MLA Ravi Thakur.

“There are numerous stories of our history which we were made to forget. Ways were not explored to preserve them and pass them on to the next generations. We could have learnt so much from those inci dents. India’s maritime heritage is one such sub ject which is discussed very little,” he said.

‘Indian Urban Housing Conclave-2022’ a three-day event being organised by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India from October 19 to 21 at Rajkot, Gujarat. Union Housing Minister Hardeep Puri, Union Minister of State (Housing) Kaushal Kishore and other dignitaries from Centre and States will also grace the occasion.

New Delhi: Diwali festival this year will be a little different for PM Narendra Modi. He has a busy two days leading up to Diwali, Oct 24, as he goes temple-hopping in Uttarakhand and UP. This involves travel to Kedarnath and Badrinath on October 21, and then a trip to Ayodhya on Chhoti Diwali, Oct 23. The tem ple run comes very close to elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

We do not believe in hierarchical world order, says Rajnath Singh

Gandhinagar (PTI):

Defence Minister Ra jnath Singh on Tuesday said India does not be lieve in a “hierarchical world order” where a few countries are considered superior to others. India was steadfast in its commitment to pro vide support in all are nas to African countries, he said at the India-Afri ca Defence Dialogue (IADD-2022). A ‘Gandhi nagar Declaration’ to en hance cooperation in the fields of training and military exercises was adopted at the end of the event, organised on the

‘People not happy with collegium, it is govt’s job to appoint judges’

Ahmedabad (PTI): Un ion Law and Justice Min ister Kiren Rijiju said the people of the country are not happy with the collegium system and ac cording to the spirit of the Constitution, it is the government’s job to ap point judges.

Speaking at ‘Sabar mati Samvad’ organised here by ‘Panchjanya’, a weekly magazine pub lished by the RSS, he said he has observed that half of the time judges are “preoccupied” with de ciding the appointments, due to which their pri mary job of delivering justice “suffers”.

The minister’s re marks came after he

had said at a conference in Udaipur last month that there is a need to rethink the collegium system of appoint ments to the higher ju diciary.

“Till 1993, every judge in India was ap pointed by the law min istry in consultation with the Chief Justice of India. We had very eminent judges at that

time,” Rijiju said in re sponse to a question on the process of appoint ment of judges.

“The Constitution is clear about it. It says that the President of In dia will appoint judges, that means the law min istry will appoint judg es in consultation with the Chief Justice of In dia,” he said.

“The Supreme Court in 1993 defined consul tation as concurrence. In no other field has consultation been de fined as concurrence but in judicial appoint ments,” he said, adding that the collegium sys tem was expanded by the judiciary in 1998.

sidelines of Defence Expo 2020. “India does not believe in a hierar chical world order where a few countries are con sidered superior to oth ers,” Singh said.

“We do not believe in

making or becoming a client or satellite state, and so when we partner with any nation, it is on the basis of sovereign equality and mutual re spect,” the Defence Min ister further said.

NIA raids to probe ‘emerging nexus’

Gurugram (PTI): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tues day raided houses of three alleged gangsters and of a former sar panch in connection with the “emerging nex us” between terrorists, gangsters and drug smugglers. The raids were conducted at hous es of gangster Amit Da gar and that of Anil, the brother of his close aide Sandeep alias Bandar, and Kartar Singh.

After the four-hour raid, the officials searched the home of a former sarpanch, whose relatives said they were surprised as he had no links with any gangster

STRENGTHENING TIES

and had to contest the zila parishad election. The NIA also carried out a raid at the resi dence of a building con tractor in Ambala, and the house of jailed gang ster Naresh Sethi in Jhajjar and houses of two alleged gangsters in Sonipat, both stated to be associated with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

French delegation calls on MoS Jitendra Singh

France Minister informed MoS Dr Singh that French President Macron is likely to visit India in early 2023

First India Bureau

New Delhi: France Minister Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, cur rently on India visit, called on Union Minis ter of State (Independ ent Charge) Dr Jitendra Singh at North Block, to discuss Indo-French col laboration in Nuclear Energy. She was accom panied by a high-level

French delegation.The two sides discussed ways to speed up the set ting up of the nuclear power reactors at Jaita pur site in Ratnagiri dis trict of Maharashtra by joint collaboration.

Indian Govt has al ready accorded ‘In-Prin ciple’ approval for set ting up six nuclear power reactors of 1650 MW each in technical coop

eration with France which would make it the largest nuclear power generating site with a to tal capacity of 9900 MW as part of an umbrella nuclear deal signed with France in Sept 2008.

(EPRs) at Jaitapur. In May, this year, a highlevel team from EDF visited India and held detailed talks with NPCIL officials.

Dr Singh assured the France Minister that the technical, financial and civil nuclear liabil ity issues will be re solved at the earliest by both the sides and well before the scheduled visit of the French pres ident Emmanuel Ma cron in early 2023 as an nounced by Chrysoula Zacharopoulou.

The French company EDF last year submit ted to Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd its binding technocommercial offer to build six European Pressurised Reactors

First India Bureau

Dr Jitendra Singh in meeting with French delegation on Tuesday.

PM REVIEWS PROGRESS OF GUJ’S MARITIME HERITAGE COMPLEX

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviews the progress of National Maritime Heritage Complex site at Lothal, Gujarat, through video conferencing, in New Delhi on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set for another visit to his home state Gujarat on Wednesday, where he will dedicate and lay the foundation stone of projects worth around Rs. 15,670 crores. During the two-day visit, Prime Minister Modi will cover Gandhi nagar, Junagadh, Rajkot, Kevadia, and Vyara, a state ment from Prime Minister’s Office said on Tuesday.

PM MODI’S ANOTHER 2-DAY VISIT TO HOME STATE GUJARAT STARTS TODAY

Rajnath Singh at DefExpo 2022, in Gandhinagar, on Tuesday.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan at a meeting on Tuesday.

Prayagraj (PTI):

Police at the house of gangster Raju Basodi in Sonepat.

NORMAL TIES WITH CHINA DEPEND ON PEACE ON BORDERS: JAISHANKAR

India’s search for a “more balanced” & “stable relationship” with China was severely impacted New Delhi (ANI): Ex ternal Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tues day said that peace and tranquillity in the bor der areas of India and China remain the basis for normal relations.

Speaking at the con ference of the Center for Contemporary Chi na Studies (CCCS) on “China’s Foreign Policy and International Rela tions in the New Era,” Jaishankar said, “Peace and tranquillity in the border areas clearly re main the basis for nor mal relations. From time to time, this has been mischievously conflated with the sort ing out of the boundary question.” He further said that the truth is that the prerequisite

has been and remains one much more modest, and even that was breached in 2020.

Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar shared the main points and said that India’s search for a more balanced and sta

KERALA HUMAN SACRIFICE CASE

Allegations of organ mafia unfounded, says Kochi Commissioner

Kochi (ANI): Kochi Po lice on Tuesday said that there is no organ mafia behind the mur der in the killing of two women for Human Sac rifice rituals.

Kochi City Police Commissioner CH Na garaju said, “Allega tions of organ mafia behind the murder are unfounded. Organ transplantation is not possible in unsanitary conditions. If you think in common sense it will not work. It is suspected that the main accused Muhammed Shafi has misled the co-accused in this regard.” He further said that there is techni cal evidence against the accused.

“There is no indica tion that there are more victims. Missing cases are being investigated. So far no evidence has been found about the link between missing cases and human sacri fice cases. Several phones have been seized from the accused. Mu hammed Shafi, who is the main accused muti lated the bodies. It is done in the butcher’s style,” Kochi Commis sioner said.

Meanwhile, Kochi DCP S Sasidharan said that the investigation is in process and lot of sci entific evidence against the accused. “There is

no evidence that the main accused, Mu hammed Shafi victim ized more people regard ing human sacrifice rit uals. The investigation is in progress. There is a lot of scientific evidence against the accused. An investigation is under way into the statements that the victim woman Padma’s phone was de stroyed. DNA samples of victim Padma’s rela tives were collected. This is for the conclu sive evidence,” DCP said.

Earlier on Monday, the Special Investiga tion Team, Kerala con ducted a potency test and collected DNA sam ples of three accused persons. “The accused identified as Mu hammed Shafi, Bhaga val Singh and Laila were taken to the Er nakulam Medical Col lege by the special inves tigation team, Kerala to collect the samples,” of ficials said.

ble relationship with China takes it across multiple domains and many options.

“Given the developments of 2020, they obviously fo cus on an effective de fence of the border. This was notably undertaken

NPCL gives 7 days time to Omaxe Greens Society

Noida (FIB): Noida Power Company Limit ed has given 7 days’ time to Omaxe Putting Greens Society for pay ment of long outstand ing electricity bills.

NPCL on Tuesday has said that if the society does not pay the dues within 7 days, then it will be left with no oth er option and the elec tricity of the entire so ciety will be cut.

Omaxe Putting Greens Society owes Rs 82 lakh to NPCL. This due on Omaxe Putting Greens Society is about 10 months old. NPCL on Monday sent a final no tice to Omaxe Putting Greens Society, asking it to clear the dues with in 7 days.

Rahul Gandhi resumes march from Kurnool

DIAMOND JUBILEE CELEBRATED Itanagar (PTI): The Indian Army is celebrat ing the diamond jubilee of the Battle of Walong which is as an example of bravery and sacrifice made by the brave hearts of the force in the face of Chinese ag gression in 1962. Sixty years ago the Indian Army gave a “bloody nose” to the Chinese in the Battle of Walong,

even in the midst of Covid,” he added. Refer ring to India and China tensions which intensi fied after the Galwan valley clash, Jaishankar said that establishing a way of life between New Delhi and Beijing after

Tezpur-based Defence spokesperson Lt Col AS Walia said. “The Indian Army launched its only counterattack during the war to stall the ad vancing PLA soldiers. The bravehearts of Indian Army held back the Chinese troops for 27 days, which forced them to deploy its reserve division from Tawang to Walong.

2020 is not easy. “Yet, it is a task that cannot be set aside. And this can only become sustaina ble on the basis of three mutuals: mutual re spect, mutual sensitivi ty and mutual interest,” EAM added in a tweet.

Kurnool (Andhra Pradesh) (ANI): Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday as party leader Rahul Gandhi along with others reached Halaharvi village in the Kur nool district after a day’s break.

The 3,500-km yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir on Mon day observed a “rest day” on the 40th day of the march in San ganakallu since its commencement on September 7.

On the 41st day of the Yatra, Rahul Gandhi resumed the march from the Hala harvi bus stop in Kurnool.

Roger Binny succeeds Sourav Ganguly as BCCI president

New Delhi (Agen cies): Former World Cup-winning all-round er Roger Binny was elected unopposed as the new Board of Con trol for Cricket in India (BCCI) president at the board’s latest Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Tuesday, Oc tober 18th.

Binny, 67, replaces Sourav Ganguly as the board chief, ending the former India captain’s 3-year tenure at the top job.

Roger Binny took over officially as the board president during the BCCI Annual Gen eral Meeting (AGM) on October 18. Binny, who played 27 Tests and 72 ODIs for India between

1979 and 1987, has held key positions in admin istration in the Karna taka State Cricket As sociation over the years.

Adani Defence & Aerospace to acquire Air Works for `400 cr

Ahmedabad (ANI): Adani Defence Systems & Technologies (AD STL) has signed defini tive agreements to ac quire Air Works in a Rs 400 crore deal.

The company said on Tuesday that Air Works was the country’s big gest and highly-diversi fied independent main tenance, repair and op erations (MRO) with the largest pan-India net work presence across 27 cities. Air Works had developed operational capabilities within the

country for key defence and aerospace plat forms, the company said. From the first P-8I aircraft Phase 32 checks to Phase 48 checks and MRO on the landing gear of the Indian Air Force’s 737 VVIP air

FEATHER IN THE CAP

craft, Air Works under takes base maintenance for Air Transportation Rack (ATR) 42/72, A320 and B737 fleet of aircraft from its EASA and DG CA-certified facilities at Mumbai, Delhi, Hosur and Kochi.

He has been the pres ident of the KSCA since 2019. Binny also served as the national selector for the men’s cricket team in the past.

Mulayam’s ashes to be immersed in Prayagraj today

Etawah (PTI): The ashes of Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav will be im mersed at the Sangam in Prayagraj on Wednes day, family sources said.

The family of Yadav, led by his son and party president Akhilesh Ya dav, had on Monday im mersed ashes of the late leader in the Ganga in Haridwar. For the im mersion in Prayagraj, the family will leave by plane from Saifai air strip at 11 am, the sourc es said.

Promotion on the cards for over 70 IPS officers from UP

Lucknow: With the coming of new years 2023, the Uttar Praesh bureaucracy will wit ness promotion of more than 70 IPS officers of the state. In this, ‘cap tains’ of 5 districts of UP will become DIGs and 5 DIGs will also be promoted as IGs.

Although there is no vacancy in the rank of DG from ADG, some of ficers will not be able to get the benefit of pro motion, but those

Rahul Gandhi interacting with Andhra farmers, in Kurnool, on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI

BILKIS CONVICTS

RELEASED WITH EYE ON ELECTIONS: CONG

New Delhi (Agencies): Congress questioned the Centre for preferential treat ment given to the Bilkis Bano case convicts, alleging that it has been done for elections.

Congress spokesperson Ab hishek Singhvi said that the Gujarat government affidavit “proves beyond a shadow of doubt.”

Mumbai (ANI): Backing Rajasthan Minister Parsadi Lal Meena’s re mark that likened Lord Ram’s foot journey from Ayodhya to Sri Lanka to Rahul Gan dhi’s padyatra, Maha rashtra Congress chief Nana Patole on Tuesday said that it is, however, a “co-incidence” that both of their names begin with “R”. The remarks of the Maha rasthra Congress chief came after Meena on Monday said that Rahul Gandhi is walking even more than Lord Ram did from Ayodhya to Sri Lanka.“Rahul Gandhi’s padayatra will be his toric,” Meena had said.

CRUCIAL READ

Bhubaneswar (Agencies): Brown sugar weighing 1.6 kg valued at over Rs 1 crore in the international market was seized in Odisha’s Balasore district, police said on Tuesday. Based on intelligence input, a team of the special task force (STF) of the Odisha crime branch conducted a raid near Balasore railway station on Monday and seized the narcotic drugs from the possession of two drug peddlers, the police said. The arrested person is identified as Sk Raju and Amzad Khan, both residents of the Balasore district.

servinng currently as IG, will get the benefit of promotion in the rank of ADG. In the IPS officers who are to be promoted in UP, 9 IPS officers of 2019 batch

will become SP from ASP. Moreover, the names of 11 IPS officers of 2009 batch will be considered.

Thiruvananthapuram (Agencies): A week after rape charges were filed against Eldhose Kun nappilly, the Congress legislator from Kerala’s Perumbavoor constituen cy is likely to be charged with attempt to murder, sources said. A source said that the investigation team is “seriously con sidering” including the attempt to murder charge against him.

Bagalkot (Agencies): In a case of honour killing, a minor girl and her lover were murdered and their bodies dumped in Krishna river, police said on Tuesday. According to the Bagalkot Rural Police police, the incident took place in the early hours of October 1 when the minor girl’s family took her and 22-year-old Vishwanatha Nelagi out on the pretext of uniting them.

Chennai (Agencies): Former Advocate General R. Krishnamoorthy, 92, passed away in Chennai on Tuesday. A designated senior counsel, he had held the post of A-G between 1980 to 1989 and once again between 1994 and 1996. He had also served as the chairman of Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry (BCTNP).Born on December 8, 1930 in Thanjavur district, now Tiruvarur, he completed his graduation at St. Joseph’s College in Tiruchi before obtaining his law degree from Madras Law College in 1954.

Ranchi (PTI): Tribal body Adivasi Sengel Abhiyan (ASA) on Tuesday staged a dharna in Ranchi demanding Sarna dharma code, a separate religion column for the indige nous people in the census form. The code is a long-standing demand of the tribals who are nature worshipers. They are not Hindus, Muslims or Christians, ASA president Salkhan Murmu said.

Kochi (ANI): The Cus toms officials intercepted a passenger coming from Dunai at Kochi airport and seized gold worth Rs 33 lakh n Tuesday. On the basis of intel ligence developed by Air Intelligence Unit (AIU), officers of AIU Kochi batch intercepted a passenger coming from Dubai at Kochi Airport by flight IX 434 on Tuesday.

INDIA LIFTED 415 MILLION OUT OF POVERTY IN 15 YEARS: UNITED NATIONS

New Delhi: Even as India got pushed behind Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh in the hunger index, a report jointly prepared by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) suggests that the country has managed to pull out 415 mn people from poverty in the last 15 years. The report titled Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2022 says the MPI estimates based on the Demographic and Health Survey for the country released.

Ahtesham Siddiqui

Bahraich SP KK Chaudhary, Jaunpur SP

Ajay Kumar Sahni, Ba reilly SSP Akhilesh Ku mar Chaurasia, Pilibhit SP Dinesh P and Ghazi abad SSP Muniraj are sure to get promoted. This year only 6 DIGs,

of 2005 batch, will be able to become IG. Ali garh Range DIG Deep ak Kumar, Gorakhpur Range DIG J Ravinder Gour, Basti Range DIG RK Bhardwaj, Devipa

tan DIG Upendra Agar wal and Azamgarh DIG Akhilesh Kumar are the officers whose names have been in cluded in the promo tion list.

BROWN SUGAR VALUED AT OVER `1 CRORE SEIZED IN ODISHA’S BALASORE

FORMER ADV GENERAL R. KRISHNAMOORTHY PASSES AWAY IN CHENNAI

MLA LIKELY TO BE CHARGED WITH ATTEMPT TO MURDER

TRIBAL BODY DEMANDS SARNA RELIGIOUS CODE

COUPLE MURDERED, BODIES DUMPED INTO RIVER

CUSTOMS SEIZES GOLD WORTH `33 L AT AIRPORT

Roger Binny, Rajeev Shukla, Jay Shah, Ashish Shelar and others at the 91st AGM of BCCI, at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai on Tuesday.

EAM Dr S Jaishankar delivers the keynote address at a conference of CCCS, in New Delhi on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI

CONG’S BHARAT JODO YATRA ENTERS ANDHRA PRADESH

‘COINCIDENCE THAT RaGa, LORD RAM NAMES BEGIN WITH R’

IPS Dinesh Kumar IPS Ajay Sahni

IPS Keshav Kumar IPS Muniraj

IPS Akhilesh Chaurasia

ICB APPROVES WOMEN’S IPL AT AGM New Delhi (Agencies): The general body of the BCCI on Tuesday approved the conduct of a separate leagueformat T20 tournament for women cricketers, the WIPL. The demand for WIPL has been growing for some years now, and BCCI secretary Jay Shah was pushing hard for it, said a senior source in the BCCI.

—PHOTO

BY ANI

business

NISSAN TO DRIVE IN GLOBAL PRODUCTS INTO INDIAN MARKET

Wheat MSP hiked by ` 110 to ` 2,125/qtl

New Delhi (PTI): The gov ernment on Tuesday hiked the minimum support price for wheat by ` 110 to `2,125 per quintal and mus tard by ` 400 to ` 5,450 per quintal for the current crop year to boost the produc tion and income of the farmers.

sons. Sowing of rabi (win ter) crops begins in October, immediately after the har vest of kharif (summer) crops. Wheat and mustard are major rabi crops.

New Delhi: Japanese au tomaker Nissan is looking to drive in its global sports utility vehicles, in cluding X-Trail into the In dian market, as it looks to strengthen its presence in the country, a top compa ny official said on Tues day. The company, which currently sells models like Magnite and Kicks in the country, is looking to drive in models like XTrail, Juke and Qashqai into the country.

On Tues day, the automaker an nounced that it is study ing the feasibility of XTrail and Qashqai for the Indian market.

GOLD FALLS BY `10 BUT SILVER PRICES GO UP BY `774

The decision to increase the MSPs (minimum sup port prices) of six rabi crops was taken at a meet ing of the Cabinet Commit tee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

MSP is the rate at which the government buys grain from farmers. Currently, the government fixes MSPs for 23 crops grown in both the Kharif and rabi sea

According to an official release, the CCEA has ap proved an increase in MSPs for six rabi crops for the 2022-23 crop year (JulyJune) and the 2023-24 mar keting season (Apr-March).

The absolute highest in crease in MSP has been approved for lentil (Mas ur) by `500 per quintal, fol lowed by rapeseed and mustard by `400 per quin tal, it said. Wheat MSP has been increased by `110 to ` 2,125 per quintal for this crop year from ` 2,015 per quintal in the 2021-22

crop year.

The cost of production of wheat is estimated at ` 1,065 per quintal, the re lease said.

Briefing media, Infor mation and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur

SCINDIA URGES STATES TO REDUCE TAX ON JET FUEL

said the government has ensured a 100% return over the cost of production in the case of wheat and mustard. Whereas in the other four rabi crops, it is between 50 to 85% return over cost of production, he

Air India aims 30% int’l market share in 5 years

MSP = MINIMUM SUPPORT PRICES

z The decision to increase the MSPs (minimum support prices) of six rabi crops was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi

z MSP is the rate at which the government buys grain from farmers

added. Asked if the hike in MSP of rabi crops would lead to food inflation, the minister said the inflation in India is under control in comparison with other countries. The support price of barley was hiked

OTHER STORIES

by `100 to `1,735 per quintal for the 2022-23 crop year from ` 1,635 per quintal in the previous year.

Among pulses, the MSP for gram has been in creased by `105 to `5,335 per quintal from ` 5,230 per quintal, while for lentil (Masur), it was hiked by ` 500 to ` 6,000 per quintal from `5,500 per quintal.

In the case of oilseeds, the government has in creased the MSP for mus tard seed by ` 400 to ` 5,450 per quintal for the 2022-23 crop year from ` 5,050 per quintal in the previous year.

The MSP for safflower has been raised by ` 209 to ` 5,650 per quintal from `5,441 per quintal.

NCLT EXTENDS RELIANCE CAPITAL RESOLUTION PROCESS DEADLINE TO JANUARY 31

New Delhi: Gold prices in the national capital fell `10 to `50,783 per 10 grams on Tuesday amid appreciation in rupee, ac cording to HDFC Securi ties. In the previous trade, the precious metal had closed at `50,793 per 10 grams. Silver, however, climbed `774 to `57,064 per kilogram from `56,290 per kg. In the in ternational market, gold was trading in green at $1,657 per ounce while silver was up at $18.91 per ounce.

ONGC BIDS FOR 20% STAKE IN RUSSIA’S SAKHALIN-1

New Delhi (PTI): Union Civil Aviation Minister Jy otiraditya Scindia on Tues day said there is a huge demand for air travel after the pandemic and urged eight states and UTs to re duce the tax on jet fuel.

Air traffic growth will be driven by smaller cities, he said and emphasised the need for developing airport infrastructure in such places.

The domestic air traffic is inching closer to preCOVID level and in recent times, the daily passenger numbers crossed the four lakh mark twice.

Scindia said that VAT on jet fuel is still high in eight states and Union Territo ries in the range of 20-30% and urged them to reduce the rate.

The minister requested Goa, Assam, Delhi, Maha rashtra, West Bengal, Ra jasthan, Bihar and Tamil

TOP TALKING POINTS

z The domestic air traffic is inching closer to preCoronavirus-pandemic (COVID-19) level and in recent times, the daily passenger numbers crossed the four lakh mark twice

Nadu to reduce the VAT on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF).

“New growth to come from Tier 2 and 3 cities,” he

z Scindia said VAT on jet fuel is still high in eight states and Union Territories in the range of 20-30% and urged them to reduce the rate

z The minister requested Goa, Assam, Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar and TN to reduce the VAT

said and emphasised the need to bring down entry barriers in the context of high VAT on jet fuel in some states.

New Delhi (PTI): Air In dia chief Campbell Wilson on Tuesday said the airline aims to have 30% share in both domestic and interna tional markets in the next five years.

Currently, the loss-mak ing carrier, which was tak en over by Tata group in January, has put in place the revival plan ‘Vihaan. AI’. Air India aims to have 30% share in domestic and international markets in the next five years, Wilson, who is the MD & CEO said.

Currently, the airline has a domestic market share of 10% and an international market share of 12%.

According to Wilson, the airline will triple its fleet in the next five years.

New Delhi: The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has for the third time extended the deadline for debt-ridden Reliance Capi tal’s resolution process to January 31. The earlier deadline was November 1, 2022. This is the third extension as the timeline has been extended twice in the past, sources said. As per the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) rules, the admin istrator had to originally close the resolution of RCL within 180 days, by June 3, 2022. Earlier, the lenders of Reliance Capital had given an extension of 30 days to the bidders for submission of binding bids, along with an EMD of `75 crore, by October 31.

SBI HIKES SAVINGS DEPOSIT RATE BY 0.3%

FOR ` 10 CR & ABOVE

AMBUJA ALLOTS 47.74 CRORE WARRANTS TO ADANI FAMILY FIRM

New Delhi: ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natu ral Gas Corporation (ONGC), is making a pro posal to retake 20% stake in Russia’s Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in the far east, sources said. Rus sian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month disbanded Exxon Neftegaz as operator of the Sakha lin-1 and transferred the project and all of its as sets and equipment to a new operator. OVL is in the process of applying to regain the 20% stake it held in the project, three sources aware of the matter said.

CORPORATE FUNDING IN GLOBAL SOLAR SECTOR FALLS 18%

Sensex up for 3rd day, ends

Mumbai (PTI): Equity benchmark indices rallied for the third day in a row on Tuesday amid firm global market trends and buying in index major Reliance In dustries. The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 549.62 points or 0.94% to settle at 58,960.60. During the day, it zoomed 732.68 points or 1.25% to 59,143.66.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty surged 175.15

Drones can help create $100-bn GDP boost

New Delhi: Corporate funding in the global solar sector declined by 18% year-on-year to $18.7 bil lion in January-Septem ber 2022, according to a Mercom Capital report. Corporate funding in cludes venture capital and private equity (VC), debt financing, and public market financing. “Total corporate funding in 9M 2022 (first nine months) stood at $18.7 billion, 18% lower compared to $22.8 billion raised in 9M 2021.

Gandhinagar (PTI): Put ting drones at the centre of a technology-led transfor mation of Indian agricul ture can help boost the country’s GDP by 1-1.5% and create at least five lakh jobs in the coming years, the World Economic Fo rum said in a new report on Tuesday.

The report, prepared by WEF’s Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution in India in collaboration with Adani Group and launched here, outlined the potential for drone-based transfor mation of Indian agricul

ture. It also outlines use cases for drones, fusing military and civilian tech nologies enabled by digital adoption, analytics, digital financing and a well-coor dinated local stakeholder effort and provides a frame work for development of scalable pilots that can be implemented by various governments, WEF said.

pts higher

Mumbai (PTI): The rupee pared its initial gains to close 7 paise down at 82.37 (provisional) against the US dollar in a restricted trade on Tuesday. At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 82.21 against the greenback. It witnessed an intra-day high of 82.02 and a low of 82.37 against the American currency during the session. It finally ended at 82.37 against the US dol lar, down 7 paise from its previous close of 82.30.

points or 1.01% to end at 17,486.95. State Bank of In dia (SBI) was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, followed by ITC, Nestle, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd

Bank, Mahindra & Mahin dra, RIL and Larsen & Tou bro. HDFC, NTPC, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra and Sun Pharma were the laggards.

IN LAST 12 MONTHS

Mumbai: A day after lowering the deposits for small savers (under `10 crore in savings deposits by 5 bps to 2.70% per an num, State Bank on Tuesday increased the savings deposit rates by 30 bps for large accounts. The bank said the new pricing of 30 bps more on deposits, is applicable for `10 crore and above, and is effective from October 15. Banks have been witnessing flight of money to other asset classes even as they were lending more. While interest rates for saving bank deposits below `10 crore remains unchanged at 2.70 percent.

New Delhi: Ambuja Cements Ltd on Tuesday said it has issued 47.74 crore warrants to Adani family firm Harmonia Trade and Invest ment and raised `5,000 crore. Ambuja Cement, now a part of Adani Cement, has issued 47.74 crore warrants at a price band of `418.87, said a regu latory filing by the company. As per the terms and condi tions, the Adani group family has contributed `5,000.15 crore, which is “25% of the Limited issued price”, it added. The warrants issued on a preferential issues basis to Adani Group firm have a face value of `2, it added.

MERCHANT BANKERS CAN’T UNDERTAKE ANY BIZ OTHER THAN THOSE RELATED TO SECURITIES MKT

New Delhi : A merchant banker cannot carry on any business other than those pertaining to the securities market, accord ing to the capital markets regulator Sebi. Providing an informal guidance in this regard to PNB Investment Services, Sebi indicated that its views might differ on a case-to-case basis. The clarification came after PNB Investment Ser vices, which is registered as a merchant banker, sought informal guidance on whether it can act as a direct selling agent by starting a fresh business vertical for marketing retail products such as home loans, car loans on behalf of PNB or other banks.

5G, telecom jobs in India see 33.7% growth

Mumbai (PTI): Job post ings for 5G and telecommu nications have witnessed significant uptick in the last 12 months, as enter prises are looking at 5G adoption at an accelerated pace, says a report.

According to global job site Indeed, job postings for telecommunications and 5G have increased by 33.7% between September 2021 and September 2022.

“5G rollout has been ea gerly anticipated in India, and businesses have al ready begun hiring to de velop 5G-specific technolo gy and services. With enter

MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS

z According to global job site Indeed, job postings for telecommunications and 5G have increased by 33.7% between September 2021 and September 2022

z Clicks for Customer Service Representatives and Operations Associates have increased by 13.91% & 8.22%, resp in last 1 month

there will be an increased need for skilled talent that can design security sys tems and strengthen net work architectures to adapt to the new technology, he noted. The report further noted that clicks for Cus tomer Service Representa tives and Operations Asso ciates have increased by 13.91% and 8.22%, respec tively, in the last one month.

prises looking at 5G adop tion at an accelerated pace, we will likely see an uptick in hiring for these roles in

the next few quarters,” In deed India Career Expert Saumitra Chand said.

This also means that

The data also revealed that the average salary for top job roles such as techni cal support, BPO executive and customer service rep resentative was ` 3,53,298, `3,29,520 and `3,06,680.

Duty is not a negative word, Duty does not

stride with

and

‘TOURIST POLICE’ SCHEME

NATIONAL CONFERENCE TODAY

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is chief guest, Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy to be also present

New Delhi (PTI): A day-long national con ference of top police of ficers of states will be held in New Delhi on Wednesday on the effec tive implementation of a uniform tourist police scheme across the country, the Tourism Ministry said.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will be the chief guest at the event. Union Minister for Culture and Tour ism G Kishan Reddy will also be present on the occasion, the min istry said in a state ment on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Tourism, in coordina tion with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Bureau of Police Research and Develop

ED attaches assets worth `185 crore of Chandigarh pharma company

New Delhi (PTI): As sets worth more than Rs 185 crore of a Chandi garh-based pharmaceu tical company have been attached under the anti-money laundering law in connection with a case of alleged bank loan fraud, the Enforce ment Directorate said Tuesday.

Buildings, plant and machinery of the com pany, Surya Pharma ceuticals Ltd., and some linked entities have been attached after a provisional order was issued under the Pre vention of Money Laun dering Act (PMLA).

The money launder ing case stems from two CBI FIRs — filed on the complaint of State Bank of India (SBI), Chandigarh and Punjab and Sind Bank, Karnal — against the company, its managing director Rajiv Goyal and others for “de frauding” the banks to the tune of Rs 828 crore, the federal agen cy said in a statement.

The ED said Letters of Credit were availed in the name of the com pany in lieu of “bogus invoices” and alleged “discounting of these LoCs by associated entities.”

ment (BPR&D), is or ganising the national conference of director generals/inspector generals of police de partment of all states and Union territories “in connection with implementation of Uniform Tourist Police Scheme at Vigyan Bha wan in New Delhi on October 19.

During the confer ence, the report on ‘Tourist Police Scheme’ prepared BPR&D will be deliberated, and BPR&D would be sharing the finding and recommen dations of the report with the Home Ministry, Ministry of Tourism and representatives of state governments and UT administrations, the statement said.

“The idea of the con ference is to develop a dedicated team of police personnel by states/UTs to work towards taking care of the require ments of the foreign and domestic tourists, their safety and security,” the statement said.

Objective of the na tional conference is to bring the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Home Affairs, BPR&D and state governments and UT administration on the same platform, so that they may work together in close coordi

Joint secretary (foreigners di vision, MHA), state tourism secretar ies of Rajasthan, Ker ala, Goa & Megha laya, DGs, IGs of all states & UTs, and oth er senior officials of the 2 ministries, BPR&D will also be present during the conference.

—Tourism Ministry

nation with the state and UT police depart ments, and sensitise them about the specific requirements of for eign and domestic tour ists for effective imple mentation of the uni form tourist police scheme at pan-India

level, it added.

This would change the safety and securityrelated perception of India at a global level and will help in making India a must-visit desti nation around the globe, the Tourism Ministry said.

Agenda of the con ference is implementa tion of uniform tourist police scheme at panIndia level for develop ing “tourist-specific policing with suitable roles and responsibili ty and training aspects, to provide safer ecosys tem to foreign and do mestic tourists in and around tourist destina tions”, as safety and security is the first and foremost priority of any tourist, it said.

Noida: Protest after infant dies of stray dog bite

Noida (ANI): Following the death of a one-yearold due to a stray dog bite, the residents of a housing society in Noi da’s Sector 100, protest ed and blocked roads on Tuesday. Noida Author ity official, OSD, Indu Prakash said that the civic body would con struct four shelter homes for stray dogs.

“We are going to con struct 4 shelter homes for stray dogs. The work is in progress. We start ed sterilizing stray dogs in 2017 and 40,000 dogs

have been sterilized so far. We will build shel ter homes for dogs in

the same way as we have been doing for cows,” said Prakash.

Ankita Bhandari’s father unhappy with SIT investigation, asks for CBI

Dehradun (PTI): The father of slain recep tionist Ankita Bhandari expressed his dissatisfaction with the ongoing probe in the case and demanded a CBI investigation into her killing.

Headed by Deputy In spector General of Po lice (DIG) P Renuka Devi, a special investi gations team (SIT) has been investigating the case since September 25.A chargesheet in the case is likely to be filed shortly, officials said.

“I demand from Chief Minister Push kar Singh Dhami to or der a CBI probe into Ankita’s murder. I am not satisfied with the

Srikot in Pauri district on Monday.

The yatra is being carried out by students and social workers of the area to demand jus tice for Bhandari. It will conclude at the Vanan tara Resort where Bhandari worked in the district’s Yamkeshwar block near Rishikesh.

However, the resi dents of the housing society were not satis

fied with the Authority and continued their protest.

Speaking to ANI, a resident said, “We are not satisfied with the authority. The stray dogs are going in shel ter homes but when they come back there is no change in them. We have raised this issue since 2018 but nothing is happening.”

Another resident, Priyanka, said the au thority has decided to catch all dogs and send them to shelter homes.

Virasat 2022 to celebrate literature, Hindustani art

New Delhi (PTI): Ac claimed actors Sau rabh Shukla, Piyush Mishra, Rajesh Tailang, celebrated poet Ashok Chakrad har, and folk singer Prahlad Singh Tipanya among others will be participating at the up coming “Cultural Kaarva’n — Virasat 2022” by Jashn-e-Adab Foundation, starting October 28.

The three-day festi val, organised by Jashn-e-Adab Sahityot sava in association with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, is touted to be a cele bration of Hindustani art, culture and literature, marking the 75th year of India’s independence.

“We see a lot of youth making an effort to un derstand the enriching creations in Hindi and Urdu, using the power of the digital medium to reach authentic plat forms and artists. Their interest is helping in making Hindustani art more mainstream,” said the organisers in a statement.

WAR OF WORDS

EMINENT ARTISTS

z z

Besides panel discus sions and musical per formances, the event will host a ‘Kavi Sam melan’ and ‘Mushaira’ featuring renowned po ets like Chakradhar, Madan Mohan Mishra ‘Danish’, Khushbir Sin gh Shaad, Azm Shakiri, Javed Mushiri, Ra jneesh Garg, Vikas Sharma and Quaiser Khalid, among others. It will also stage a play on Munshi Prem chand’s “Moteram ka Satyagraha”, directed by founder of Asmita Theatre Group Arvind Gaur.

The free-for-all festi val will come to a close on October 30.

UP police react after U’khand officer accuses them of arresting innocents

First India Bureau

ongoing investigations by the SIT,” her father Virendra Singh Bhandari said at the start of a Tiranga Yatra from his home at Dobh

Bhandari was alleg edly killed by resort owner owner Pulkit Arya, manager Sau rabh Bhaskar and assis tant manager Ankit Gupta when she resist ed their attempts to force her to offer “extra services” to a VIP guest.

The murder had trig gered a massive public outrage.

New Delhi: After Utta rakhand’s Additional Chief Secretary Radha Rauri, in a remark to UP Police, said that guilty should be pun ished, not the inno cents—a war of words erupted between the police of the 2 states.

The UP Police ac cused the additional chief secretary of making “irresponsi ble” statements.

Radha Raturi had made the statement following an unsuc

cessful raid by the UP Police in Uttrakhand to arrest an alleged sand mining mafia. The raid had led to the death of a local BJP leader’s wife.

“Many times, the UP

Police catch innocent persons and claim they are guilty. It should not be like that.

Catching one innocent person may lead to the rise of 99 more wrong doers,” she said.

Tthe UP Police termed the remark as “irresponsible” and suggested that a civil servant should refrain from such comments.

Additional Director General (Law & Or der), UP, Prashant Ku mar said, “The ACS Uttarakhand has is sued an irresponsible statement without knowing the facts. Any civil servant should avoid such statements especially when it is related to the matter of the coun try’s biggest state.”

Suspended Andaman officer claims he was in Delhi on day of alleged rape

ALIBI AS EVIDENCE lll

In the Oct 5 letter, the officer stated that he was in Delhi between April 11, 2022 and April 18, 2022 and has given details of his tour

New Delhi (PTI): Sus pended from service over the charge of sex ually assaulting a 21-year-old woman in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, senior IAS of ficer Jitendra Narain has written to the Un ion Home Ministry claiming he was in Del hi on an official tour on April 14 when the first alleged assault took place.

In the October 5 let

ter, a copy of which has been seen by PTI, the officer stated that he was in Delhi between April 11, 2022, and April 18, 2022 and has given details of his tour.

The first alleged sex ual assault, according to the woman’s com plaint, took place on April 14, 2022, and the second on May 1, 2022.

In the letter, he pro vided file notings re garding travel outside

Port Blair, flight details including PNR Num ber and boarding pass and bills of his stay at Andaman Nicobar Bha wan in New Delhi to buttress his claim.

Narain, who was then the chief secre tary of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, claimed that on May 1 he was engaged in “some personal legal issues” relating to a friend who had arrived

in Port Blair that morn ing. He provided the travel details of his friend as well.

He said his call data records and cellphone locations may be looked into to confirm his claim.

However, there was no confirmation from the Union Home Minis try on the letter.

“The allegations are completely untrue for the simple reason that

they are impossible in the alleged dates and time spans,” he wrote.

“I also know that the police authorities are fully aware of the cir cumstances of those two dates, and yet are allowing this false and vexatious prosecution to continue at the be hest of certain power ful individuals in satis faction of vested inter est,” he claimed in the letter.

—Dr Jagdeesh

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla —FILE PHOTO

—REPRESENTATIONAL PHOTO

Residents protesting the stray dog issue by blocking road after the death of a labourer’s child.

IAS officer Jitendra Narain.

Pulkit Arya (L) is in jail along with two other accused.

A chargesheet in the case is likely to be filed shortly: Officials

Uttarakhand Additional Chief Secretary Radha Raturi.

FIRST INDIA

QUEEN & THE SHOW BEGINS...

First India and Bharat24-Vision of New India present First India Queen kicked off on Tuesday at Hotel Sahara Star, Mumbai. City First brings to you glimpses from the training and grooming sessions and highlights the associate partners in various fields behind the magnificent show!

irst India Queen, where beauties from pan In dia will compete for the privileged titles and crowns, at Hotel Saha ra Star in Mumbai on October 21, revealed its top 30 finalists recently!

First India Queen, a nationallevel beauty pageant reinforces the values of teamwork and ca maraderie in quality & struc tured environment. The brand encourages women to be spon taneous, confident, unhindered and free as they live. The pag eant would have been truly in complete without the love and support of our partners.

Tuesday witnessed a very in teractive session with Den tokraftt by Dr Nida Khateeb and another session with Skinworks by Dr Priti Shenai. More than a hundred talented and ravishing women from across the country walked the ramp and showcased their talent during various audi tions rounds held across multi ple cities. Grooming and train ing sessions were held where contestants prepared in various aspects to enhance self-confi dence while walking the ramp, personality enhancement, nu trition, fitness and other areas of development that are needed to become a professional model.

Parimal Mehhta, FounderBlanckanvas Media Pvt Ltd said, “First India Queen cele brates the philosophy of living your flow, of being in sync with the universe so that nothing comes in your way of achieving your dreams. First India Queen embodies the same spirit with each contestant being sponta neous, confident, and breaking stereotypes fearlessly. It is a very organic association for us.” He further added, “We are extremely excited and gratified to organise this season. It is go ing to be a journey of hard work and perseverance filled with countless worthwhile moments for the contestants.”

First India Queen is cu rated by Blanckanvas Me dia and the finale will be choreographed by Parimal

Mehhta. Apart from cash

MITALI DUSAD mitalidusad01@gmail.com

Dr Priti Shenai- Skin Works with the top 30 finalists of First India Queen

The beautiful Grand Finale Venue, Hotel Sahara Star, Mumbai

Rajendra Jain, MD SVAR Group

Crowning Partner

Kavita Kharayat-

Walk Mentor

Reflections of perfection

Stunning

Divisha Paliwal,

Vasudha

Gaurva

Toshi

(L-R)

JD Maheshwari

the ramp

Himmat Singh

Jagdeesh Chandra addressing the audience

Jagdeesh Chandra with (L-R) Shubhda Panwar, Muskan Kamdar, Akanksha Bhalla,

Tiwari, Muskan Khariwal and Tripti Arora walking the ramp. Also seen is Gaurav Gaur.

Sheena Parashar, Yasheel Pandel, Manisha Pandel, Shweta Raje,

Agrawal and Devshree Hada

Soni Kumari and

Sayyed, Ruchi Pathak and Devshree Hada Kritika Solanki

—PHOTOS BY SUNIL SHARMA AND MUKESH KIRADOO

ELITE MISS RAJASTHAN 2022

CROWN OF SUCCESS!

The momentous grand finale of the 9th edition of Elite Miss Rajasthan 2022 was organised at Samskara Resort on Ajmer Road on Sunday, October 16. City First brings to you some more glimpses from pure fashion show!

The glance of beauty and fashion was seen in the grand finale of the 9th edi tion of Rajasthan’s biggest and most prestigious beau ty pageant Elite Miss Ra jasthan 2022 held at at Sam skara Resort on Ajmer Road on Sunday. During the grand show, Shweta Raje won the crown of Elite Miss Rajasthan 2022 fol lowed by Taj Devshree Hada and Sheena Parashar as the first and second runner up respectively. While Varuna vi Singh, Disha Nareda and Shivangi Singh Rao were de clared runner-ups.

Dr Jagdeesh Chandra graced the program as the chief guest and mo tivated the finalists. Directors of Elite Miss Rajasthan Gaurav Gaur, Anil Bhattar, Ajit Soni, PN Doody, Nakul Vijay, Yasheel Pandel and Patron of the program JD Ma

heshwari appreciated the winners for their bright future.

During the finale, Charvi Tanya Dutta, Aditi Hundai, Himmat Singh and Akanksha Bhalla were present as judges to test all the contestants. The event took place in five design er sequence rounds, the first round showcased designer Varsha Jan gid’s western designer collection. In the second round, the girls per formed the ramp walk with 32 saris of Bhaiya who came from Bagru. This was followed by a multi-de signer round, wherein 17 eminent designers from Rajasthan show cased their collection, in which the top 15 girls were shortlisted by the jury. After which the question an swer round with the top 6 selected from all the contestants was fol lowed by the finale round in the fashion designer Heena Balani’s Garments crowned the winner of this season. Meanwhile, the girls’ title announcement round was also special. The judges announced the top 3 on the basis of talent, confi dence and introduction of the mod els. Many eminent fashion design ers and industry celebrities were also present during the event.

KAVITA CHAUHAN cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

(L-R) Rewati Upadhyay, Charvi Tanya Dutta, Akanksha Bhalla, Gaurav Gaur, Shweta Raje, Astha Khandelwal, Shrishti Khatri, Rutvi Tiwari, Aditi Hundai and Isha Agarwal during the grand finale of Elite Miss Rajasthan 2022

Clockwise: Priya Yadav, Tanu Chaudhary, Khushi Vijayvargiya and Sonam

Jagdeesh Chandra with (L-R)

Shubhda Panwar, Muskan Kamdar, Akanksha Bhalla, Navya Tiwari, Muskan Khariwal and Tripti Arora